Inception: The Final Espionage
by littlemissincepshine
Summary: The dream team finds themselves in trouble with Robert Fischer Jr...
1. Chapter 1: PILOT

It had been exactly two weeks since the Fischer job and Ariadne felt it was safe to say that everything was beginning to beat in sync with routine – she was just any other college student again. Professor Miles had just finished an extensive lecture and Ariadne waited as the students slowly filed out of the lecture hall. Miles looked up and noticed her, still sitting, against the background of exiting students. He smiled and nodded at her as the last student shuffled out of the room. Ariadne descended the stairs of the hall, hands tucked in her washed out jeans.

"Hey prof," she said and smiled as she neared his desk.

"Ariadne," said Miles, as he settled in a small metal frame chair, "what can I do for you?"

"Well, actually," replied Ariadne, repeatedly shifting her weight from her heels to her toes, "I have a question that has nothing to do with this course."

"Oh?"

"I can't help but wonder how Cobb is doing now."

Miles gave her another kind smile. "Thank you for your concern Ariadne. I am quite confident that the man has reached some sort of closure in dealing with such a great loss. Actually, I will be flying over to L.A. this evening since it is reading week after the weekend. Would you like to come? You could chat with him personally and see the children, too."

Ariadne, having only seen the children in the dream state, opened her mouth to reply, when she suddenly felt her phone vibrate in the back pocket of her jeans. She whipped her phone out and frowned.

"Who is it?" asked Miles.

"Cobb… he says he needs to see me – and that it's an emergency," Ariadne said, her eyebrows furrowing.

"Well, I guess you don't have a choice then," chuckled Miles uncomfortably.

-/-/-

Dom Cobb tapped a pen impatiently against a long desk in a conference room that he had booked for two hous from a local library. He looked at his wrist watch every few seconds, his tapping steadily becoming faster with each glance.

"There's no use in being so impatient," said Arthur, from the other side of the conference room. His hands were in his pant pockets and he was wearing a three-piece, single-breasted brown suit. Arthur's outfit was topped with an untied gray tie: a reflection of the great rush he was in to be able to arrive punctually. "Pretty much all the people you want here had to travel from the other side of the world."

Cobb opened his mouth to retort, when Yusuf, in a khaki coloured sweater, and Eames, in a button down purple dress shirt, came scrambling in.

"Traffic," panted Yusuf, wiping a bead of sweat on his forehead with the sleeve of his pullover.

Eames nodded at Cobb and raised his eyebrows at Arthur, "Hello, nice tie." At that, Arthur glanced down at his chest and scowled when he noticed the untied cloth. He tied it lazily and took a seat opposite to the one Eames had just settled in.

Ariadne was the last to come in and gasped at the sight of the now reunited team, "Oh, hey everyone."

"Hi," the team replied in unison, with the exception of Cobb who narrowed his eyes and said, "hurry up." Ariadne hurried to a seat.

"We're missing the tourist," noted Eames, crossing his arms and leaning back on the chair.

"It's because _he is_ the problem at hand at the moment," replied Cobb, standing up. "I have been informed that Fischer has become _aware_ of what we have done."

"And Saito is a problem because…?" piped up Ariadne.

"He never did a proper background check with that blonde flight attendant."

Eames swore under his breath.

Yusuf frowned. "So she was _working_ for Fischer?"

"Not working for him per say," said Cobb carefully, "but, rather, her allegiance wasn't completely with us. We all know Fischer was aware of extraction, based on his militarized subconscious. As he was asleep the entire flight, maybe a little bit of paranoia took over. So he bribes the blonde and, done, she spills the beans about how she helped us. Of course, Saito never bothered to find out that this woman was young and in debt, thus easily susceptible to bribery."

Arthur stood up as well. "The good news is that he would initially assume that we were trying to perform an extraction. His company could be after all of us at the moment – maybe for questionning."

"His company?" asked Yusuf. "He has not dissolved the empire yet?"

"Fischer hasn't mentionned anything of the sort," said Cobb, "not publicly, anyway."

Eames shook his head. "Then he knows." Cobb nodded in solemn agreement.

"Cobb and I," Arthur continued the discussion, "do have a plan. When we first tried extraction on Saito, he led us into believing that we were the ones running the show – but in actuality, it was _his_ 'audition'. We can trick Fischer in the same fashion when his goons come along and try to extract what we had done in the dream."

"A thoroughly flawed plan," Eames replied quickly, "you can't just guarantee that Fischer doesn't remember the dream during the flight."

"Actually, we can," replied Cobb, placing both hands on the conference table, "because Fischer interacted with Saito perfectly fine in the dream – especially the third layer. Thus his conscious was too focused on the idea we were feeding him – and not the details of the faces and places. He was obviously aware that his company's biggest competitor was sitting only metres away from him during the flight. _Fischer doesn't remember_."

"How do you know," asked Ariadne, "that Fischer would send extractors after us? Wouldn't it just be easier for the law to take care of it?"

Cobb shook his head. "An extractor could guarantee such a big company much more detail than a monitored investigation and tons of media coverage ever would."

"Trust him," nodded Arthur, "he would know."

"If you want to work with our plan," Cobb said, cautiously making eye contact with every single person in the room, "we will have to work fast and get Fischer before he gets us. If you want to deal with this on your own, I would suggest you leave now."

Nobody moved. The team's race against time was on.

-/-/-

Ariadne stood by the corner of the room as she watched Cobb, lifting James up in the air with his left arm and hugging Phillipa with his right.

"Daddy," James said thoughtfully, tugging on a strand of his father's hair, "I thought you said you didn't have to go away to work anymore!"

"Yeah, please don't go," Phillipa chimed in.

Cobb bent down, lowering James to the floor and held their faces with each hand. "I promise I'll be back quickly."

"That's what you said last time," replied the quirky Phillipa.

A tear slid down Cobb's cheek. "I know. I'll try my best."

"Pinky promise?" James offered his pinky.

"Promise."

"Corporate espionage," sighed Miles, coming up behind Ariadne, "once you're in it, you are never out. An endless cycle."

Cobb heard. He turned around and nodded once at Ariadne. "I'm sorry."

"No," replied a hopeful Ariadne, "I'm confident that… we will _all_ be able to reach a closure after this final job."

With one last kiss for each children and a hug for Miles, Cobb left the house, with Ariadne following closely behind him. Miles sat at the kitchen table, with his head on his hand – disappointed. As for the children, the familiar feeling of loneliness had crept back into their hearts.

Arthur was waiting for Cobb and Ariadne outside. He was leaning against a small, black convertible, holding the keys with his left hand and running his right hand over his hair, slicked back with gel.

"Where to?" asked Cobb.

"Airport," replied Arthur.

Ariadne groaned. "I'm getting sick of plane rides already."

"Sorry." Arthur offered her a quick smile. "We'll have to be on the move if we want to buy ourselves any time."

The three entered the car, Arthur the driver. "We'll be on a five hour nonstop flight from here to Toronto, Canada. Saito has saw to it that we ride his private jet."

Cobb bit his lip angrily at the thought of Saito. Ariadne, on the other hand, was puzzled. "Toronto? Why Toronto?"

"Exactly," said Arthur, "it's likely his extractors would look for us in Sydney. Then try to look for evidence and retrace our steps in Japan, France, or even Kenya."

"So while they're distracted with searching for evidence as to where we could be," Ariadne said thoguhtfully, "we'll be finishing our planning on the other side of the world?"

"Yes," Cobb answered for Arthur. The silence that followed was tight and uncomfortable.

-/-/-

The entire team – including Saito – was already on board when Cobb, Arthur, and Ariadne entered the plane. Yusuf was seated, looking troubled as Eames and Saito who were speaking to each other quickly in low voices.

"I hope this flight doesn't have anymore pesky flight attendants," said Eames.

"No flight attendants this time," replied Saito. "I have already apologized."

"You may have apologized to Cobb," shot Eames in his British accent, "but _I_ have not yet heard one from you."

"Eames." Arthur stepped forward and put a hand on the man's shoulder. "Calm down."

"Sorry," Saito interjected in an indifferent tone of voice, and sat down. Eames, breathing heavily, shook off Arthur's hand, straightened out his suit and settled in a seat as well.

Ariadne was suddenly flooded with a feeling of fear. The team had worked well on the original Fischer job since they cooperated as one unit. Now, everyone was so hot headed and perturbed by their emotions.

Arthur saw her expression and touched her arm. "Hey, don't worry," he whispered, "everyone is just angry now. All of us – we're the perfect team; the epitome of togetherness." Ariadne nodded.

The epitome of togetherness.

_Let's just hope you're right_, she thought to herself.

**NOTE**: I know that _Pilot_ is more of a television term, but I really do want to see how well this goes before writing any further.


	2. Chapter 2: A SEPERATION

**2. A SEPERATION**

The team stayed in a small hotel in downtown Toronto. The rooms were, of course, paid off by Saito under the name of one of Cobb's fake I.D.s, making it, according to Arthur, "more difficult for Fischer's goons to track us". Every morning, the crew would meet up in Cobb's hotel room and begin their planning. They would go straight through lunch and disperse when the evening came along. Their plans were finalized halfway through the third week since arriving. At the end of the third week, the six of them stayed in Arthur's room that evening. They ordered beverages through room service, and, when their drinks arrived, they clinked their beer bottles (or in Ariadne's case, her soda bottle) and began their discussion.

"Tomorrow," Cobb began in his soothing voice, "I will book a public first-class flight under Saito's," he nodded at the Japanese, "airline. It will be an 8 hour and 30 minute flight to Marseille, France. Saito will make sure that this information is accessible to any of Fischer's employees who are tracking us."

Saito took out the stacks of newspapers and business magazines that the team had been collecting. "The media," said Saito, "following Robert Fischer Jr. believes this man is 'vacationing' after his father's death. However," he paused for emphasis, "we all know that he is out to seek us personally."

Arthur began his contribution. "Upon news that we have 'carelessly' revealed our flight plans, they will book the same flight."

"Then the fun truly begins." Eames drained his drink. "I think that we are ready." He glared at Yusuf. "No last minute secrets to reveal?"

"None," replied a nervous Yusuf, shaking his head in embarrassment, "we don't have to worry about heavy sedation since we are going only two layers."

Ariadne felt tension beginning to build, for the third time today – there was no need for a fourth argument. "It wasn't Yusuf's fault the last time," Ariadne spoke in his defense, "if we didn't know about the possibility of limbo, it would put the pressure off and – "

Eames cut off Ariadne with an unnecessarily loud voice. "Oh, _I'm_ sorry, I forgot that Mr. Cobb is the one who dragged all of us into this hell of a situation. Kudos to you, good sir," he lifted his bottle toward Cobb, "I give you full credit – sorry for taking any away in the first place."

Cobb clenched his fists. "Eames, we all know _you_ needed the money from the Fischer job – oh wait, who was 20 grand in debt from gambling? _You_." He stood up and raised his voice. "In fact you should be on your knees, _graciously_ thanking me for this oppurtunity!"

Eames noticed Saito, who was sitting _very_ still at the corner of the room. This angered the British man to the breaking point. "So _you_ think you can just _sit there_ and pretend _none of this_ was your fault?" Eames grabbed Saito by the collar of his shirt, flexing his huge arms and lifting Saito right off the floor. "You stupid _bastard_."

"Perhaps," Saito began, "it should've been your point man's job to check the background of _everyone_ on board."

Arthur spoke quickly. "The attendant was not _my_ emlpoyee. And as the point man, I spend my time researching information about _the point_ – Robert Fischer Jr. Not some flight attendant who belonged to _your_ company!"

Saito opened his mouth to speak again, but Eames jammed his right knee straight into his chest. Saito grunted in pain, as Eames pulled his fist back for another hit. Before he could make contact, however, Cobb had went over and delievered a clean punch, straight into Eames's face. At impact of the blow, Eames lost grip of Saito and stumbled backwards into the wall.

"Get the off him!" Cobb shouted. "I know you can't process the fucking maths, but he is funding our entire project – I thought you would understand _that_ much!"

Before anybody could react, Arthur wrapped himself around Eames and tried to pull the bigger man back, restraining him from stepping any closer to Cobb. Yusuf smartly stood cloes by Cobb, incase he lashed out. Cobb breathed heavily, his fingers still curled in a tight fist. His fingers were turning red from the punch.

Ariadne decided to intervene, cautiously stepping in between Cobb and Eames. She eyed both parties, before slowly saying, "Guys, _please_… just calm down. This is so… uncivil."

The silence felt noisy after the confusion of yet another fight. Eames coughed and Arthur slowly loosened his grip on the man and stepped aside. All eyes were on Ariadne – she twiddled her fingers. She could hear the sound of a van door slide shut, followed by a lot of loud shouting outside the hotel.

"I wonder what's going on out there," Ariadne chuckled nervously. Everyone glared at her, with the exception of Arthur, who was nearest the windows. He pulled the curtains aside and peeked outside, bit his lip, and frowned. The point man rushed over to a coffee table, where a pair of compact binoculars were sitting. He swept the binoculars off the table and rushed back to the windows. Arthur focused the binoculars.

"Shit," he swore under his breath.

"What's happening?" asked Yusuf.

"Fischer's inside a van outside – my view's obscured by some poorly tinted windows," replied Arthur, "but he's there, alright."

"What's he doing here?" asked Ariadne.

Saito offered a swift response. "He wants to be a tourist, just as I was," he replied simply.

Cobb was already by the door of the room, his hand on the knob. "Get back to your rooms," he directed, "and grab anything important… then run the hell away from here."

The team scrambled into action and everyone fled back into their rooms. Eames was already trying to zip his messily jammed suitcase (he had hardly unpacked at all), when, not even half a minute later, he heard shouting in the room beside his – Arthur's room.

"_Stop moving, I have a gun!_" Eames heard.

"Fuck," he swore under his breath. He swung his black leather coat over his shoulder. Placing his hand on the knob of the door, he closed his eyes, took three deep breaths, and swung the door open. Expectedly, there was already two gunmen by his door. Eames kicked the first man into a wall, stepped on his wrist, then continued to smash his suitcase onto the second man's head. He sprinted down the corridor, made a left turn and, suddenly, collided with Ariadne, who was holding a small string bag.

"Why are you just _standing_ here?" hissed Eames, helping Ariadne back up.

"I think – I think they got Arthur!" Ariadne's voice was barely audible.

Eames hesitated. _Should I go back?_

He licked his lips. "Ariadne, listen to me," Eames tried to sound as soothing as possible, "it's either we get out now and save him later or we _all_ get caught. Then we're done for sure."

"But – but," Ariadne stammered. Eames had never thought he would see such a courageous young woman lose composure like this.

"Listen," Eames shook his head, "the cops are going to be closing in any minute. We have to move now or never."

Eames did not give Ariadne a chance to decide. He gripped Ariadne's arm tightly and pulled her, roughly, away from the confusion, shouting, and the gunshots. Ariadne – unwilling – obliged. Instead of taking the elevator, they fled down the stairs and exited through the back doors of the hotel. The two dangerously jaywalked a street with busy traffic. A few blocks later, Eames and Ariadne took refuge in a small alley between two large commercial buildings. Both took heavy breaths. Eames felt his pocket vibrate and whipped out his phone.

"Who is it?" asked Ariadne.

"A text. Saito." Eames scrolled through the text. "He has a private jet. He's leaving in 30 with or without everyone."

"Are we going to go?"

"Of course."

"But what about –"

"Arthur's going have to wait, sorry hun." Eames sighed and dialed the taxi service number into his phone.

"Hello? Yes, I need a taxi. For right now, please."

-/-/-

Cobb and Saito sat across from each other in the small jet airplane.

"_God damn it_!" Cobb shouted, hot with anger. He scrunched his hair with his hands and squeezed his eyes shut.

"It's not like Fischer didn't know who he was after," suggested Saito, "he – and that flight attendant – could easily have identified us as the suspects since we were the only other passengers on the first class during that flight."

"I _know_," Cobb snapped back, "but we registered with the hotel under my fake ID. That takes care of any trouble with the cops… but how did Fischer know? I've only ever used that identification while I was working with Cobol Engineering…"

"And I took care of Cobol Engineering for you," replied Saito, "and let's not forget – with a lot of money."

"That means Fischer's sources are quite good at finding information then," said a voice behind Cobb. He turned around and saw Eames and Ariadne walk in.

Ariadne was looking down at her shoes. She sniffled. "If that's the case, you might want to check on your kids – see if they're okay."

Cobb shook his head. "They're not going to be extreme as Cobol. All they want to do is extract evidence that we performed inception on Fischer and _then_ they can file charges against us."

"I thought you said the law wouldn't be able to help Fischer."

"No," replied Cobb. "What I meant was that if they brought this straight to the authorities, the investigators would deal with it the 'civil' way without invading our personal dreams – because that is quite controversial at the moment. If Fischer gets his sources from an extractor first and _then_ rat us out, he will have enough evidence to get us behind bars _and_ gain all the information he wants."

"If they didn't want to bring this to authority," Eames concluded, "Cobb would've received a notice about ransom with his kids quite some time ago – where Cobb lives is no secret anyway."

Saito glanced at his wrist watch. "The thirty minutes is up."

Ariadne's head snapped up. "But we still have to wait for Arthur and Yusuf!"

Cobb shook his head. "We never notified Arthur. I saw them get him – it was too late. I'm sorry."

Ariadne opened her mouth to reply, but was at loss for words. She sank into a chair in defeat. Yusuf suddenly appeared at the doorway of the plane.

"I'm here, everyone," he announced, panting, "I'm here."

Saito walked over and knocked on the door to the pilot's cabin. "We're good to go."

"Where are we going exactly?" asked Yusuf, collapsing into a chair.

"Vancouver," replied Saito. "I own a small island off the coast of the province. It may take long for them to discover us, as this island is no secret. However, it is all we have at the moment and it is private property. It will have to do for now."

Yusuf nodded. "Where is Arthur?"

"They got him," Ariadne replied, "and we better go back for him." She looked straight at Cobb. "He's your best friend," she continued, "and he was the one who convinced me that we were still a team."

"And you can't ever leave a teammate behind," Eames murmured.


	3. Chapter 3: CHOICES

**3. CHOICES**

_Arthur sprinted down an unfamiliar street, grasping his chest. It felt like someone had slashed his body open without leaving any cuts or scars. He heard voices behind him and made a sharp turn into an alleyway. He looked backward to see if anyone was following his trail, when he suddenly collided with someone, who pushed him roughly onto the ground. Arthur grunted as the pain in his chest grew sharper. He was completely surrounded by five hooded figures – they were laughing – but he could not make out their faces, due to the dimness of the narrow street._

"_Game over, bud," smirked the man Arthur had run into. The man cocked his gun and spoke again, "How you feeling?"_

_Arthur did not answer. He fought against the pains and tried to scramble back up, but someone behind him violently kicked him back down with the heel of their shoe. The man with the gun took aim and shot a bullet into Arthur's forearm. Arthur tried to ignore the pain. He squeezed his eyes shut and groaned, writhing in pain. A bead of sweat ran down his face._

_The man bent down. "It's five against one, sweet pea," he chuckled, "why bother getting up?" _

_He shot Arthur again, a few inches below the first bullet. An agonizing scream escaped Arthur's lips. He gasped and the pain in his chest grew again, causing him to gasp and struggle for air. Suddenly, one of the men vanished into thin air. Arthur frowned and suddenly understood._

"_We're dreaming," he whispered between heavy breaths._

_The man shrugged. "I guess the fun's over," he said, aimed his gun at Arthur's head and –_

Arthur's eyes snapped open and noticed he was on the ground, tied up, blindfolded, and gagged. He was momentarily confused, when realization suddenly came rushing to him like the waters of a high tide. They had just been ambushed by Fischer's men, all masked, in the hotel they had been staying in. The sedative was still wearing off and Arthur frowned in concentration, trying to fight its effects. What had happened? The men had entered his room – and he had tried to fight them off. But one of them had a knife and cut – not fatally, but deep enough to scar – his chest. Arthur glanced down at his chest and saw the bloodied splotch. That would explain the burning sensation.

_They probably knocked me out after that_, Arthur thought to himself, just as he heard footsteps behind him.

"What the hell were you guys doing?" demanded a female voice.

"We were just playin' wit' him, ma'am, honest." Arthur instantly recognized the voice – it was the man who had the gun in the dream.

Arthur heard the clanging of earrings – was she shaking her head? "Stop lying," the woman replied, chuckling, "you sadistic bastard."

"Sorry, ma'am," laughed the man.

"We were hired to extract professionally – not through torture," continued the woman. She nudged Arthur's back with a pointy high heel. "But you and your team already knew that didn't you. All reunited and ready to plot."

-/-/-

Saito's island was small – an ideal cottage location. There was a nice house with a beautiful garden, a very quiet place with much space to think. The team sat lazily in the garden; Saito was on a hammock swing, Eames was sprawled on the ground, the buttons of his dress shirt undone, Ariadne sat against a small tree, eyes closed, and Cobb was on a lawn chair, his tie loosened. They could hear birds chirp as they bathed themselves in the warm sunlight.

"How long do you suspect it'll take for them to find us here?" asked Ariadne, opening her eyes.

Cobb smoothed out his unfastened tie. "A week, give or take a few days."

"But this is _my_ property and we will have _my_ security with us," Saito added, "thus we will not be as… ill-prepared as the last time."

"Then we'll find Arthur," said Ariadne in a soft voice.

Eames was unusually quiet today; he did not speak. Instead, he stood up and tucked his hands inside the pockets of his dress pants as he walked back towards the indoors. From his pockets, he pulled out a cigar and a lighter.

"I thought you quit," Cobb shouted after him, as Eames lit the cigar.

Eames took a drag before he replied. "I thought I did, too."

The British man was in low spirits . He thought of Arthur and wondered where he was now. He thought of Ariadne, crying about the loss of their point man during the plane ride to Vancouver. Arthur and Ariadne. Eames felt a little something for Arthur and almost believed that Arthur returned mutual feelings. According to Cobb, Arthur had taken a blade – slashed straight into his chest – for Ariadne before pushing her into safety. Of course Arthur would choose Ariadne over him. Brave, beautiful, and so intelligent.

_What was I thinking_? Eames shook his head.

The cigarette calmed Eames – or at least that's what he told himself. Maybe he was only infatuated with Arthur.

_I don't think I would've taken a blade for him, anyway_, Eames thought to himself. The forger nodded, satisfied with this conclusion. He put out his cigar.

-/-/-

"We've been watching you, Arthur, my dear." Arthur could hear the woman sit down on a chair, to his left. He was no longer gagged, but he wished, very badly, that they had removed the blindfold instead. "For a week, actually."

"How?" asked Arthur. "It was Cobb's fake I.D. given to him for a past assignment."

"It is very easy to find out things from Cobol Engineering. Their security is not exactly state of the art. But, you know Arthur, I'm very glad we have you. You would be an excellent addition to our team."

"I wouldn't work with you," replied Arthur curtly.

The woman's reply was equally as dry as Arthur's response. "I never said you had a choice."

"When we watched you," the lady said, "we watched you all scurry back to your rooms and play with your toys to keep track of which state you were in – very clever, I must say. And, Arthur, dear, I'm holding your little loaded die in my hands. In fact, I know how all of your team's little toys work."

"They're called totems," said Arthur angrily through gritted teeth.

The woman laughed. "If we get your team to enter one of the dreams I have crafted, and they are still relying on the _totems_, they will never know whether or not they are in reality. _However_, Arthur, if you work with us we will not tamper with your friends' totems, not even yours."

"How do I know if I can trust you?"

"Can you really risk not taking my compromise Arthur? Can you? If you don't work with us, it will cause your friends to lose tab of whether they are dreaming or not. That could drive them crazy. Then I can _guarantee_ you that the battle is lost. You have my word that I will keep my end."

"You can guarantee that the battle is lost if we lose our totems. So why compromise with me at all?"

"My employers are asking for a _great_ deal of information. And you know what the best plan always is? Infiltrate the enemy from the inside. I will give you one night to decide. Just remember that my side of the deal will be kept as long as you work with us." Arthur could hear the woman stand up. "Goodbye," she said before slamming the door shut. Arthur was left alone with a haunting decision to make.

-/-/-

Ariadne knocked on the door of the bedroom that Eames was staying in.

"Can I come in?" she shouted.

There was a long pause. "Yeah!" replied a muffled voice. Ariadne swung the door open. The room was dark and smelled of coffee and tobacco. Eames was lying in bed, shirtless, with a pillow over his head.

Ariadne sat at the corner of the bed. "You okay?"

She heard a sniffle. "Yeah."

"Have you been _crying_?"

"_No_!"

"Hey, don't lie to me!" Ariadne made a sudden movement and yanked the pillow off Eames's face.

Eames sighed and sat up. His eyes were slightly red, but he was only tearing up – not crying.

"Oh so you were telling the truth," said Ariadne.

"I guess it's still considered crying, technically."

"I've never seen a guy cry."

"Of course we cry. When nobody is watching."

Ariadne touched Eames's arm thoughtfully. "You know, I completely forgot to say this, but… thank you, Eames. You got me back up on my feet at the hotel and, if it weren't for you, I don't think I would've escaped."

"You really like Arthur, don't you."

Ariadne nodded. "I do, but… I'm not sure sometimes. He's just a bit too uptight some of the time."

Eames chuckled. "Definitely."

"You're definitely the funnier guy," Ariadne said playfully. "Are you upset over him, too?"

"I was," said Eames, "but I decided that… my attitude wasn't right at all. It's time to, you know, move on past emotion and get to rescuing him." He had chosen his words carefully, but was completely honest about what he had said.

"Cheer up." Ariadne smiled. She inched closer to Eames and squeezed him with a hug. "We're finalizing plans after dinner, so, you know, give your face a good wash and don't let emotion get in the way. Because that's what happened to me at the hotel – and you saved me from it. Thanks for saving my life." She winked at him and left the room.

_She's lovely_, Eames thought to himself. No wonder Arthur chose her. He shook his head and cleared his thoughts; emotion was getting in the way.


End file.
